1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to photographic copying machines of the type where documents are placed upon a copyboard to be copied and specifically to a copyboard cover for covering the document and the copyboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the type of photographic copying apparatus wherein a document is placed upon a copyboard and a light image is reflected from the document to a photosensitive film upon which a copy of the document is made, it is desirable to cover the document and copyboard with a copyboard cover during imaging, for several reasons. One reason is to prevent the operator from exposure to the very bright copying light. Another reason is to assure that the document is held flat against the copyboard to prevent distortion of the copied information. A third reason is to provide an attractive border region around documents not as large as the copyboard, through use of a white cover material on the copyboard cover.
Perhaps the simplest and most common form of copyboard cover is a flat sheet of white material, which is usually made of some flexible material such as rubber and has one end secured to the copying machine at one end of the copyboard. This simple type of cover is lifted and folded back by hand to permit placement of a document (and removal later) on the copyboard, and then placed back over the document on the copyboard for imaging. There are a number of disadvantages with this type of copyboard cover. For example, placement or removal of the cover requires the use of at least one hand of the operator, thus preventing him from performing other functions such as collecting copies coming from the machine or selecting additional documents to be placed on the copyboard next. Also, the operator might disturb the document's positioning on the copyboard when he places the cover over the document, because of the ability of the cover to move laterally with respect to the copyboard. Additionally, this type of cover does not always hold the document flat against the copyboard, particularly if the document is one which is not naturally flat. A further disadvantage is that lifting and handling of the copyboard cover by the operator eventually results in the cover becoming dirty, thus not only presenting an undesirable background for imaging, but often dirtying the documents being copied.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a copyboard cover which does not have the above-described disadvantages.